It has 327PS and rear-biased all-wheel drive in an SUV body demonstrating, with some authority, the company’s commitment to producing fuel-economic and practical family cars that can also be fun to drive.
The Mazda CX-60 PHEV is priced from £43,950 for an Exclusive-Line model, £46,700 for a Homura version and £48,050 for a top-of-the range Takumi car. You can order the CX-60 now with first deliveries expected in autumn.
Even Exclusive-Line models get a generous kit list that includes 18-inch alloy wheels, LED exterior lights, a reversing camera and a powered boot. Inside, you get a leather interior, heated front seats and steering wheel, two 12.3-inch infotainment displays with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a head-up display.
Homura models look sporty. They have 20-inch wheels and gloss black exterior touches, plus their wing mirrors fold away when the car is parked. Inside, you can add to the basic model with kit like an electrically adjustable driver’s seat, front-seat ventilation, heated rear seats, an electrically adjustable steering wheel and ambient interior lighting.
Takumi models are sportier again with their own unique body kit, machined alloy wheels and a white Nappa leather interior.
You also get three packs to choose from. The £1400 Comfort Pack (only available on Exclusive-Line models) adds 20-inch wheels, electric front-seat adjustment, ventilated front seats and heated rears. You also get Mazda Driver Personalisation which can scan your face and adjust the car accordingly to your preferred settings.
The Convenience Pack (£1000) and Driver Assistance Pack (£1100) are available on all models.
Go for the Convenience Pack and you’ll add kit such as tinted rear windows, a 360-degree camera, 150 and 1500W AC sockets, additional interior lighting and wireless phone charging.
The Driver Assistance Pack, meanwhile, adds adaptive LED headlights, automatic emergency brakes that work if another vehicle crosses your path – either going forwards or in reverse – and all the autonomous driving aids you need for the car to drive itself on the motorway and A-roads so long as you keep your hands on the wheel.
Homura and Takumi models can also be specified with a full-length glass roof at an additional £1000.
The Mazda CX-60 is aimed squarely at the premium competition – the likes of Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo – and it’s been given a posh interior to match its aspirations.
Along with the huge infotainment screens you get materials like leather, wood, chrome and textiles while the floating dashboard stitching showcases a Japanese technique called ‘Kakenui’. Everyday’s a school day…
With dimensions of 4745mm long, 1890mm wide and 1675mm tall, the Mazda CX-60 is slightly longer than the CX-5 that it looks similar to in pictures. You can expect that to convert into more passenger space while the CX-60’s 570-litre boot is about 50 litres bigger than the CX-5’s.
The Mazda CX-60’s all-wheel drive is rear biased so you can expect it to have excellent cornering balance and consistent steering feel that’s uncorrupted by huge dollops of power being sent through the front tyres.
All cars also get double-wishbone front suspension that’s designed to reduce roll and improve grip by maintaining a consistent contact patch between the tyres and the road – it’s the same setup found on Mazda’s MX-5 sports car.
At the back, meanwhile, you’ll find a sophisticated multi-link rear suspension setup that eats into boot space but copes well with mid-corner bumps. The whole lot is tied together by Kinematic Posture Control – another MX-5 feature – that uses the brakes to make the car feel more positive in corners.
All versions of the CX-60 get Mazda’s I-ACTIV AWD that sends power predominantly to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox. All models also come with MI-Drive select that gives you Normal, Sport, Off-road, Towing and EV (PHEV only) driving modes.
Grabbing the headlines in terms of engines, is the 2.5-litre, four-cylinder PHEV (plug-in hybrid) which produces 327PS and 500Nm of torque, getting the Mazda from 0-62mph in 5.8 seconds and onto a 124mph top speed.
Its 17.8kWh battery is good for a pure-electric range of 39 miles although the 188mpg fuel economy that Mazda quotes will drop rapidly when the battery runs out of juice. There’s no official word yet on charging times but you can expect to need less than 1hr to fill the battery from 10-80 per cent.
The CX-60 plug-in hybrid also has an impressive towing weight of 2500kg.
The range will be joined by a pair of smooth six-cylinder engines – a 3.3-litre diesel (later in 2022) and a 3.0-litre petrol (expected 2023).
We’ll have a full review of the Mazda CX-60 in the coming months.
If you can't wait for the CX-60 PHEV, the electric Mazda MX-30 could be the car for you. The MX-30 doesn't chase a sky-high range – instead, it's happy to have a relatively small 33.5kWh battery that allows the car to travel less than 130 miles between charges. That's all most people need, says Mazda, and it means the MX-30 can offer nimble handling. It also looks great. Suicide rear doors help (a little) with rear-seat access and mean the MX-30 looks like a aporty coupe.
Read the latest on the new Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer estate, the Renault Austral SUV, the new Mercedes-Benz EQE electric saloon and Volvo's updated XC40.
The Mazda CX-60 will cost around £35,000 when it's sold later this year.
In terms of size, the Mazda CX-60 will be a match for models like the Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson and Ford Kuga.
No, the Mazda CX-60 is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle with a short electric-only range of about 50 miles. The MX-30 is the only electric car Mazda currenly builds.